Business week in pictures

Irish police officers look at the cement mixer which was driven into the gate of Ireland's Parliament Building, in Dublin. Ireland's central bank admitted the cost of bailing out the stricken Anglo Irish Bank could rise to €34bn (£29.1bn) under a worst case scenario. The country's finance minister Brian Lenihan also warned that allowing the bank to fail would 'bring down' Ireland Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A passenger inside a bus blocked by picketers in Madrid during a strike. Anger, fear and frustration at austerity measures introduced by governments across Europe saw thousands of protesters take to the streets. The main demonstrations were in Spain – which saw its first general strike for eight years – Belgium and Greece but co-ordinated action was also seen in Portugal, Ireland and Slovenia Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

Sir John Vickers outlined plans for an investigation into the UK banking industry by the Independent Commission on Banking. A lengthy issues paper was announced, which sets out six main options for overhauling the way banks are structured. The option that drew most comment was that of separating retail and investment bankingtoday Photograph: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

America's troubled housing market has thrown up a remarkable price chasm that underlines just where the haves and have nots in US society reside. A study found average house prices – for a four-bedroomed home – in US cities varied between $68,000 (£43,000) and $1.8m (£1.12m). Recession-hit areas such as Detroit and Cleveland fared badly, while the Californian enclave of Newport Beach and commuter areas of New York have seen smaller declines Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters

The prospect of the UK government giving permission for deepwater drilling off the coast of the Shetland Islands became increasingly likely and prompted environmental group Greenpeace to consider going to court to seek a judicial review Photograph: Will Rose/Greenpeace/PA

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brewer of America's most popular beer brand, Budweiser, embarked on a massive promotional push to boost flagging US sales. Anheuser declared a “Budweiser National Happy Hour” and revealed plans to give away up to 500,000 servings by mid-October Photograph: Anheuser-Busch Inc.

The company behind Crossrail, the trans-London rail link, set out a series of cost savings which it believes could save the project “hundreds of millions” of pounds. Crossrail will run for more than 73 miles from Maidenhead and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Unilever, the company behind Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Dove soap, splashed the cash and acquired US toiletries firm Alberto Culver for £2.3bn in a bid to expand its range of personal care products. Among acquisitions are the TRESemmé and Alberto VO5 haircare brands Photograph: Dan Chung for the Guardian

Coalition ministers faced the spectre of a second phase of companies relocating from the UK on news that building supplies firm Wolseley is considering an offshore move. Next month its shareholders will vote on plans to register the business in Jersey while adopting Switzerland as home for tax purposes Photograph: Wolseley plc/Newscast

Workmen construct a new Dior shop on New Bond Street in Mayfair. Spending, and lots of it, is the way to invigorate the UK economy, according to Bank of England deputy Charlie Bean. Bean, who is a member of the influential monetary policy committee, also admitted that interest rates were being held down to discourage savers; while elsewhere … Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Bank of England monetary policy member Adam Posen called for a resumption of quantitative easing and issued a warning that the Bank needed to take measures to prevent long-term economic stagnation – sterling fell sharply in the aftermath of his speech Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Miguel Estrada, lawyer for Conrad Black outside the US Supreme Court in 2009. Lawyers for fallen media mogul Conrad Black were engaged in moves to strike out his criminal convictions in the US appeal court. The former Telegraph owner was freed from prison on bail in July after the US supreme court found flaws in a statute used in his 2007 fraud trial Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

BP Managing Director Bob Dudley poses for the media outside BP's headquarters in July. BP's incoming chief executive acted quickly in taking steps to rebuild trust in the oil firm, overseeing a management reshuffle and announcing details of a new safety division, which will have greater powers regarding the company's global operation Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Art, paintings and books from Lehman Brothers' British and European offices were auctioned off, including two Lucian Freud etchings and Gary Hume's Madonna. It was the company name that attracted the greatest attention though, with signs and plaques proving compelling purchases – Lehman Brothers corporate plaque fetched £42,050 Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian